nd that there, within a few feet
of where he gazed with a jaded sight out to the empty sea, was Rosey
herself, alive and breathing; and in an hour or two he was to see
her, feel the touch of her hand and lips, be his happy self again of
three days only gone by, if he could but face masterfully the strange
knowledge this mysterious revival of a former self had brought upon
him. And there was Sally....

But at the name, as it came to his mind, came also the shock of
another mystery--who and what was Sally?

Let him lie down again and try to think quietly. Was not this part
of his delirium? Could he have got the story right? Surely! Was it not
of her that Rosey had said, only a few hours since, "_His_ baby was
Sally--_my_ Sallykin"? And was he not then able to reply collectedly
and with ease, "She is _my_ daughter now," and to feel the power of
his choice that it should be so? But the strength of Rosalind was
beside him then, and now he was here alone. He beat off--fought
against--that hideous fatherhood of Sally's that he could not bear,
that image that he felt might drive him mad. Oh, villain, villain!
Far, far worse to him was--perforce must be--this miscreant's crime
than that mere murder that shook Hamlet's reason to its foundation. He
dared not think of it lest he should cry out aloud. But, patience!
Only two or three hours more, and Rosalind would be there to help him
to bear it.... What a coward's thought!--to help him to bear what she
herself had borne in silence for twenty years!

Would he not be better up, now that it was light? Of course! But how
be sure he should not wake them?

Well, the word was caution; he must be very quiet about it, that was
all. He slipped on his clothes without washing--it always makes a
noise--ran a comb through the tangled hair his pillow-tossings of
four hours had produced, and got away stealthily without accident,
or meeting any early riser, speech with whom would have betrayed him.

He had little trouble with the door-fastenings, that often perplex
us in a like case, blocking egress with mysterious mechanisms.
Housebreakers were rare in St. Sennans. He had more fear his footsteps
would be audible; but it seemed not, and he walked away towards the
cliff pathway unnoticed.

* * * * *

The merpussy waked to a consciousness of happiness undefined, a
sense of welcome to the day. What girl would not have done so, under
her circumstances? For Sally